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Some 300 anarchists took to the streets of Prague on Saturday to protest at a possible war against Iraq. During the demonstration, some protesters held speeches that harshly criticised the ongoing US preparations for war, saying that the United States' motive was not Iraqi disarmament but Iraq's oil. While lashing out at US foreign policy, the protesters stressed that their demonstration was neither in support of Saddam Hussein's regime nor Islamic terrorism. Carrying banners with slogans such as "no blood for oil" and "war against the people, the people against war", the protesters then proceeded through the city centre to the US Embassy in Prague.

Deputies belonging to the right-of-centre Freedom Union, the smallest party in the ruling coalition, have pledged their support for the government's candidate for president Jan Sokol. Mr Sokol, a former Education Minister and now university professor, held an hour of talks with the Freedom Union MPs on Thursday, ahead of next week's third attempt in parliament to try and elect a new president. Observers say Mr Sokol has a good chance of being elected, although everything depends on how many members of the senior coalition Social Democrats will give him their vote.

Social Democrat MPs present in the Lower House on Wednesday voted unanimously to support the presidential candidacy of university professor Jan Sokol in an upcoming third round of presidential elections. The situation brings the Czech Republic closer to finally electing a successor to Vaclav Havel, after two failed attempts in January. Vaclav Havel stepped down at the beginning of February after 13 years in office. Early on Mr Sokol, who is 66, stipulated he would run only if he gained the full support of all three parties in the governing coalition, the only possibility of putting up a strong challenge to the right-of-centre Civic Democrat candidate Vaclav Klaus. So far both the Freedom Union and the Christian Democrats have reacted positively to Wednesday's developments, so it seems likely Mr Sokol will run against Mr Klaus on February 28th.

European Union leaders on Tuesday met for foreign policy consultations with 13 future members in an effort to diffuse tension sparked by French President Jacques Chirac's verbal attack on the EU candidates on Monday. Mr. Chirac evoked outrage across eastern Europe, when he slammed candidate countries for their stand on the Iraqi crisis, calling them "childish and irresponsible" and telling them they would have done better to "shut up". The hastily convened foreign policy consultations in Brussels produced a common statement calling for a peaceful resolution of the Iraqi crisis but warning Bagdad to disarm or face war as a last resort. In the document current and future EU members promise to "avoid new dividing lines" and vow "joint endeavours" to meet their common goals. The Czech Prime Minister told reporters he welcomed the gesture and stressed the need for present and future EU members to hold foreign policy consultations on important issues.